Microsoft-Motorola patent row: Google wants $4 BEELLION a year

Google has suggested that Microsoft should pay around $4bn a year for the wireless and video patents of Motorola that Redmond uses in its Xbox and Surface fondleslab.

An expert witness at the trial, originally between Microsoft and Motorola but now including new Motorola Mobility owner Google, testified that Microsoft would make roughly $94bn in revenue up to 2017, but he didn't say how far back he was counting from, Reuters reported.

The trial has focused on what royalties Microsoft should have to pay Google for the H.264 video standard and wireless patents that the Chocolate Factory acquired when it slurped Motorola Mobility for $12.5bn earlier this year.

Microsoft has said that Moto's IP is only worth around $1m a year, but Motorola was looking for more like $4bn a year, which would pay Google back for its investment in no time.

US District Judge James Robart will have to decide how much the patents are worth, a decision that will come in a few weeks, after hearing the pair argue for the last week.

Robart's decision is an important one, for Google especially, but also for the rest of the combatants in the patent wars. The figure the judge puts on the value of patents could be used in other cases over similar patents and of course if Robart puts a low value on Google's shiny new patents, its purchase of Moto might not look so smart.

Robart had said that he was going to keep the court open on licence agreements and other financial information, but he ended up letting the firms file some information under seal after he said he was bound by precedent to do as other judges had done. ®